Vandalism at Manila Cemetery

Manila Cemetery was the target of vandalism Friday night with 13 headstones pulled out of the ground (some were broken), metal vases knocked off the monuments, and flowers/crosses removed and thrown across the property.

Damage was done to the oldest part of the cemetery and at least one of the stones had been there since the early 1900s.

Dwight Booth, caretaker at the cemetery, decided to work on the baby section of the cemetery early Saturday morning and found the destroyed headstones.

“We had one headstone pulled down on Wednesday night and I put it back in place but this time they were pulled out of the ground and a couple of them broken in pieces,” Booth said. “It looked like whoever did this just kicked/knocked off vases while walking out of the cemetery. It really made me sick to see this much disrespect for those who are buried here.”

A few months ago, someone broke into the office at the cemetery and stole Booth’s laptop. It had all of the cemetery records on it but thankfully he had backups.

“I have encouraged people to walk in the cemetery or ride their bicycles on the pavement but this is something that should not happen,” Booth said. “There is no excuse for desecrating the graves of people’s loved ones.”

Booth said he will do his best to put the unbroken headstones back in place.

Manila Chief of Police Chris Hill said they are investigating the incident and if anyone has information about the vandalism they are asked to call (870) 561-4777.

“We will do extra patrol through the cemetery and will be looking into a camera system,” Chief Hill said. “We will not tolerate this behavior.”